Raccoon: A Dog's Best Friend

It's a sight Palm Beach residents are used to, Gary Dalton driving down Ocean Avenue with his pet raccoon Coonee hanging out the window.

"Soon as he gets close to home, he goes all the way out on the hood," Dalton says.

But as Chuck Weber of CBS Affiliate WPEC reports, this story isn't just about Coonee it's also about his best friend Chahskah the dog.

Dalton says, "It's like they were 2 puppies from the same litter."

Coonee's mother abandoned him when he was just a few weeks old. Dalton took in the baby raccoon, and right away Coonee hit it off with Dalton's dog Chahskah.

Dalton's friends are amazed by the inter-species relationship, "It's strange. I've never seen a raccoon and a dog get along like that," says Brygida Trzaska.

Coonee loves to go for a ride.

The pair is almost inseparable. They wrestle together, go for walks together they even eat raisins together.

"Not too many dogs eat raisins,"laughs Dalton.

Unfortunately this unusual pair won't be able to stay together much longer. In a few months when Coonee reaches sexual maturity, like all raccoons, he'll become more aggressive and have to be returned to the wild.

Dalton says it will be a sad day for them, "I'm sure they'll both miss each other because they play for hours at a time."

One thing's for sure, Dalton and Chahskah will miss the Coonee and their romps together.